Web Essay: When did youth sports stop being fun?

5:44 PM,
Mar. 14, 2013

V.J. Stanley

Written by

V.J. STANLEY
Guest Essayist

Stress, inter-team fighting, jealousy, exhaustion, loss of jobs or positions, betrayal, out-of-control spending, loss of status, personal well-being sacrificed in the name of financial gain, and the benefit of few at the expense of many. All of these have become commonplace in the world in which we live. Are we talking about a corporations? NO. We are talking about youth sports.

All these things I have described used to be pretty much exclusive to our corporate world, government, and soap operas. But the youth sports landscape has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. Some people ...